Eggshell scoring device



Sept 23, 1952 G. F. HoDsoN ETAL 2,611,409

EGGSHELL SCORING DEVICE Filed sept. 4, '1945 Patented Sept. 23, .1952

UNITED STATES 'i EGGSHELL SCORING DEVICE George F. Hodson, Altus, Okla.,and Lyman L. Campbell, Riverdale, Ill., assignors to Wilson & Company,Inc.,.a corporation ofDelaWare application september 4, 1945seria1No.614,303.

Y vin claims.' (cl. 14s-4521) The present invention relates to an eggscoring device and more-particularly to a device for scoring eggs in anegg breaking machine.

The invention is adapted for use in an egg breaking machine such as thatillustrated in the patent of George F. Hodson, A2,443,188, issued June15, 1948.

An object of the invention is to provide a device which will score orcut through the shell of an egg without breaking the membrane thereof.'Ihis is most desirable as it results in the disposal or removal of allshell particles prior to the cutting of the membrane and eliminates thepossibility of the mixing of shell particles with the contents of theegg.

Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will be apparentfrom the following specication and the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of an embodiment of the invention and the partof an egg breaking machine with which it is used.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 24--24 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse view partly in section of the scoring device inoperation.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, I representsthe parallel frame members of the egg breaking machine on which the eggscoring device is mounted. Also mounted in or suspended from this frameis a motor 11, the shaft Il of which is connected by pulley I2 and beltI3 to pulley I4 on one end of a shaft I5 supported by a frame memberIll. At its other end, the shaft I5 is provided with an eccentric cam 83which is connected by an enclosing strap and link to a lug Sil on thecarriage 82 for the scoring stone 8 I.

'I'his carriage is mounted on a carriage support I6 comprising a basemember il which is secured between the two upright frame members I0 andabove which is a track member I8 with a longitudinal groove formed inits upper surface for receiving the base of the carriage 82 and forminga track in which the carriage rides. The carriage is of invertedT-shaped cross section and the stone 8l is secured in a groove in itsupper end. Bars I9 space the member I8 from the frame members I0 andstrips 20 are attached to the top of the member I8 to retain thecarriage in the groove or track in said member. Mounted in pairs on thebars I9 and secured to the uprights I0 are support brackets 2l which arebent toward each other and then upwardly and at their upper end areprovided with attaching means 22 for the guide rails 80.V These guiderails are preferably of hard rubber and converge upwardly to provide acradle for an egg E. Extending from the end of the base member II of thecarriage support is a stud23 on which is secured by a nut 24 apositioning member 25, having two cam surfaces 26, 26a thereon which arecomplementary to the cam surfaces 2I,v 21a on the member I8. Thepositioning member thereby provides an adjustable support for the memberI8. By sliding the positioning member on the stud, the member I0 andWith it the carriage 82 may be raised or lowered to adjust the cuttingdepth of the stone. 1

Each egg is held between a pair of rotatable vacuum cups 30 mounted onendless chains (not shown) in the frame I0 and which are more fullydescribed in our copending application Serial No. 604,326, nled July 11,1945. As each egg is advanced in the machine, it irictionally engagesthe guides which cause the egg and the vacuum cups to rotate while atthe same time the scoring stone contacts the central portion or equatorof the egg. The scoring stone is reciprocated at a Very high rate as,for example, 2,000 cycles per minute, but the amount of movement thereofis preferably quite small, as, for example, one-eighth inch.

The top of the scoring stone is about even with the top of the guides,but being at the equator of the egg (which is a very slight distancebelow the point contacted by the guides), will score or cut the shellthrough (see Fig. 3), but will not penetrate beyond the shellsufliciently to cut the membrane so that the shell particles will not bemixed with the contents of the egg- While we have shown and describedcertain embodiments of our invention, it is to be understood that it iscapable of many modications. Changes, therefore, in the construction andarrangements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention as disclosed in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A shell scoring device for an egg breaking machine comprising acarriage, a support for the carriage, a pair of spaced parallel guidesmounted on the support, means for moving an egg along said guides, ascoring device mounted on the carriage intermediate the guides, vandmeans for reciprocating the carriage on the support to cause the scoringdevice to score the egg shell, said guides being adapted to contact saidegg to rotate the same over the scoring device.

2. The shell scoring device of claim 1 wherein said guides and saidscoring device are substantially linear members lying in substantiallythe same plane.

3. The shell scoring device of claim 1 in which said means for movingthe eggs includes a grasping means to grasp an egg by its polar endswhereby to present the equatorial portion of the egg to said scoringdevice.

4. The shell scoring device of claim 3 including means for adjusting theheight of the carriage.

5. The shell scoring device of claim 3 in which each of said guides isprovided with a rubber egg contacting rail.

6. A shell scoring device for an eggl breaking machine comprising acarriage, a support for the carriage provided with a groove in its uppersurface for receiving said carriage, a pair of spaced parallel guiderails mounted on the support above the carriage. means for moving an eggalong saidl rails including a grasping means to grasp the egg by itspolar ends, a scoring device mounted on the carriage intermediate theguide rails, and means for reciprocating the carriage on the support tocause the scoring device to score the egg shell along its equatorialportion, said rails being adapted to contact said egg to rotate the sameover the scoring device.

7. A shell scoring device for an egg breaking machine comprising ascoring blade, means for rotating the egg about its polar axis with theequatorial portion of an egg in contact with the blade, means forreciprocating the blade at a high rate of speed and with a short lengthof stroke and means for gauging the depth of cut of the blade whereby toscore the shell without cutting the membrane of the egg.

8. The device of claim 7 in which' the length of the stroke isapproximately one eighth inch.

9. The method for scoring an egg to cut through the shell withoutrupturing the membrane which comprises rotating the egg while in contactwith a scoring device positioned at substantially the equator of the eggwhile reciprocating the device at a high rate of speed and with a lengthof stroke shorter than the elastic limit of the membrane to be exposedby such scoring.

l0. A shell scoring device for an egg breaking machine comprising ascoring blade, means for rotating the egg about its polar axis with theequatorial portion of an egg in contact with the blade, means forreciprocating the blade at approximately 2000 cycles per minute and witha length of stroke of approximately one-eighth inch, and means forgauging the depth of cut of said scoring blade whereby to score theshell without cutting the membrane of the egg.

GEORGE F. HODSON. LYMAN L. CAMPBELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,018,044 Weiss Oct. 22, 19352,067,566 Field Jan. 12, 1937 2,109,438 Springer Feb. 22, 1938 2,126,226Smith et al. Aug. 9, 1938 2,443,188 Hodson June l5, 1948

